Can’t work out what the best thing to do with this bike is. We’ve owned it from new so it feels part of the family, but I need the room.

It’s not all original, including some pretty ugly changes to the stem and bars and it’s not the most desirable colour (it is very 90s though!).
We did the mods to accommodate a Centric Safe Haven child seat and then later the bike became an Xtracycle and my wife liked the bar position so we kept it like that when it became a commuter-bike.

I really thought I’d kept all the original bits so that I could restore it, but I can’t find them with a fairly thorough dig about in the loft 🙁

The bike is in pretty good condition for it’s age but it has definitely been used throughout it’s life going through several life cycles.
A few of the paint chips are a little rusty and the orange part of the stickers is very faded.

Drivetrain is amazingly slick – as good as my brand new bike.

It’s a size 16″ (small).

There are still some original bits:
STX Chainset
Bottom Bracket
STX Hubs
Mavic Rims
Spokes
STX Rear Mech
STX Front Mech
Deore Thumbshifters
STX headset
Seatpost

Non-original bits
V-brakes
Tyres
Stem
Bars
Seat post clamp
Saddle
Sram cassette to get a wider range which doesn’t quite index perfectly with the thumbsifters.

It’s amazing how twangy this frame is compared to my more recent steel hardtails. Shame they don’t make them like this any more.

Anyway – I’m not part of the retrobike scene, so I don’t know if it’s desirable or if any of the parts are.
Should I give away, sell or strip the original bits and sell?

Just want it to carry on its life tbh!

Looks an ace pub bike – about now is probably the best time to cash in with the silly second hand market.

Other option is a tarp over the top in the garden but that will kill it in a couple of years.

Shame you can’t find the original bits. Probably worth £150 as is. Might get more on ebay.

There is quite the following fir old orange bikes.

Retro bike 🙂

Get over to Retrobike, someone on there will appreciate it.

That brings back memories of my white and orange one from the same period

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>93 Clockwork had LX, no? The pictures aren’t working for me…</span>

Is everyone else seeing the pics? They are in google photos and I right-clicked and copied the url. Is there a better way to get them out of google photos?

Anyway – thank you for your advice – I’ll go and have a look at Retrobike.

93 Clockwork had LX, no?

Not sure – we’re a little fuzzy on the year. I remember it was available in a silver crackle finish the same year, but they’d sold out. STX was launched in 93 so that’s the earliest it could be. We bought it from Aire Valley Cycles I think – I was a mechanic there in ’93 along with Chris Akrigg but I could be getting confused about when we bought the bike.

Back then you could get any orange bike with any group

Stx came in around 1994 I think?

Small retro frames are quite sought after as kids bikes.

I’d split it by parts if it’s a mush mash and list on ebay

i cannot see the pics either

Strip it and sell it off in parts on Facebook marketplace/ebay etc..

Did this with a snapped 2005 carbon merida hardtail i was given

The drivetrain parts were mainly deore, suspension forks that had seen better days, wheels had deore hubs and mavic rims

I made £500 in around 5 days, even the snapped frame sold for £50 as the guy wanted to try his hand at carbon repairing it

2nd hand 26in wheels and forks make good money at the moment, like wise with groupsets

Posted it on Retrobike – photos attached on there if anyone can’t see them on here:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/1994-i-think-orange-clockwork.430826/

Yeah I’d say ’94. Not to be a pedant. just because ’93 was when me and friends bought our first “proper” MTBs and one of them was a black Clockwork with LX. That’s still going as his dad’s knockabout town bike.

Someone’ll bite your arm off on the Retro Orange Bike Owners page on FB. And they won’t lowball you either.

They’re not especially rare but they have a following so there’s some value. Parting out is hassle but you’ll get more for all the individual bits, so it’s up to you if you want to do that. Plus all the helmets asking if you knock 50% off…

Mine was originally that silver/ blue but has been through a few repaints to the current grey. No photos to hand. :-/

Too cheap! I think a 94 for sure.

Look at the price of deore thumbies on ebay!

Also those 230TIB rims are rare as rocking horse *** if they have decent sidewalls as they were not very robust, yet came OE on oranges of the era and you need those bronze rims!

If you have the sk8 stem and hotrod bars too….

It might be too cheap, but stripping is a pain and nobody has jumped on it yet, so maybe not.

As I said, it’s just not an area I’m familiar with. Maybe the Orange facebook group would have been better – didn’t know about that. Anyway – we’ll see if someone fancies it.

If someone picks it up (i.e. reducing hassle) and pays £175 I’ll be happy, especially if it’ll get ridden.
The rim sidewalls seem pretty good to be honest. It’s mostly done dry commutes.

I recently pressed my 94 DBR axis back into service as an emergency bike when both my others were in dock, and I just love riding it!

Yes, if it fit me, I think I would have restored it and used it. I used it when it was an Xtracycle and with the child seat on, but that’s just not the same.

I’ve got a 92 Matt black one in the shed singlespeeded with some random wheels and brown big apple tyres on! Bought as a frame from sunset in Cardiff and lovingly built up with dx/ xt and synchros/ control tech/ use bits, flite ti saddle etc. Used to have stop hubs, decent Mavis rims and ritchey zmax in tan/ brown! It was light, fast and great to ride. Also got a 2001 sub 5 complete that I might sell as I don’t have as much love for that as the clockwork.

Well it’s been on Retrobike and that Facebook group for a week now with no bites.
I’m not sure reducing the price will help and I really can’t be bothered with posting a full bike.
Getting tempted to strip it, but postage is again a complete faff.
Any other ideas?

From memory of seeing it on RB (can’t see the pics above) it was a bit pricey, although not stupidly so. Stripping will usually work out better but STX is not hugely desirable and the missing Orange stem and bar hurt your total. Did you offer postage? If not you should. I’ll go for another look.

Looking back it’s not miles out to be fair but it’s a later frame (not Tange Infinity) so the rims are not Mavic 231’s, both of which hurt the value. You need to bump the ad too or it’ll just fall off the bottom. Local etiquette says leave it a few days after the last bump though.

If you split you’d get £75/100 for the frame and forks, £30/50 for the wheels, £20/30 for the thumbies, probably £50 for the STX bits and another £30 for the rest of the bits.

If you can find the original parts that are missing I imagine you’d get what you want but I’d bump and offer postage first.

Thanks @chestrockwell I’ll give it a bump.
Looking at your prices, it would only fetch £200 split, so probably less effort to offer postage. Still a hassle though isn’t it – getting a box and bits and risking damage. Pretty much every bike I’ve had delivered has had box damage 🙁